Japanese Sweet Strawberry Cream Sandwich • Ichigo Sando

I’ve already made and talked about these types of Japanese fruit sandwiches, the Japanese Fruit Sando, including both a grape sandwich and a kiwi sandwich. These kinds of sandwiches are popular and sold everywhere, including practically in all convenience stores throughout Japan. This fantastic and delicious sweet sandwich with cream, pudding, and fruits is one of those slightly strange at first but absolutely delicious sweets that i love from Japan.

One thing to note is that whether it’s ham, egg (tamago), meat, or fruit sandwiches, they’re all cut into triangles and packaged so you can see the filling, which is great. But on the other hand, often what you see is practically all the filling, a sandwich that’s thick in the middle and thin in the back. One of the most famous sandwiches is the sweet strawberry sandwich, which is what I’m trying to recreate here, but you can make it with any fruit combination you like, there are several with multiple fruits. The rule is to try to avoid very juicy fruits if you’re not going to eat the sandwich immediately; if you are, then you can fill it with any fruit.

Finally, it’s important to note that my previous recipes were basically fruit sandwiches with cream, they’re similar to Japanese fruit sandwiches but not exactly the same. This recipe I hope to make as complete as possible. A Japanese fruit sandwich is either bread, whipped cream, and fruit, or there’s the variation with thick custard cream, whipped cream, and fruit. I’m going to make the most complete version possible, so let’s get to the recipe!

Japanese Sweet Strawberry Cream Sandwich • Ichigo Sando

Servings: 2
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Delicious traditional Japanese recipe for strawberry fruit sandwiches, filled with thick cream, whipped cream, and fresh crips strawberries.

Ingredients

White Bread – 4 Slices
Strawberries – 8 (You Need 4 Large, Perfect Ones)
Milk – 300ml
Cream – 30ml
Egg Yolks – 2
Sugar – 60g
Cornstarch – 45g
Cream – 100ml (Cold)
Sugar – 10g (+/- 2 Teaspoons)

Directions

Start by making the custard. Note that since it has to go in the refrigerator, I made it the day before in a small saucepan with 300ml of milk, heating it on the stove.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a large bowl until you get it creamy, then add the cornstarch and whisk a little more.
When the milk is hot, remove spoonfuls of the hot milk to the egg yolk and cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly, adding until the egg yolk mixture is warm.
Remove the milk from the heat and slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan with the hot milk, stirring constantly (this step of heating the egg yolks first prevents from curdling).
Return the pan to a low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Note that as this mixture has more cornstarch, it will thicken a little more than usual.

When the mixture is very thick, remove from the heat, place in an airtight container, and refrigerate.

The next day, add the heavy cream and two tablespoons of sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. A less firm whipped cream will not hold up inside the sandwich.
Finally, assemble the sandwich. Start by washing the strawberries and choosing the largest and most beautiful ones for the center of the sandwich (these will be cut in half, so they are the ones you see when you cut the sandwich), dry the strawberries thoroughly with paper towels. You can chop or cut the remaining strawberries into pieces, it’s not that important. Note that Japanese sandwiches tend to be thick in the middle where they are cut and thinner at the ends.
Cut the crust off each slice of bread (or buy crustless bread), spread a strip of whipped cream, leaving two corners free to put the thick cream.
Remove the cream from the refrigerator, it should be very thick, like soft cheese. Whip it or even mash it with a fork to create a cream, then spread it on two corners of each slice of bread (see the photos for a good idea).

On the strip of whipped cream in the middle of the bread, place 2 whole strawberries in the same direction. You can arrange the rest of the strawberries on the rest of the bread.

Put both halves together and press down a little. Some of the whipped cream will come out, and there will be holes in other places. Use a spatula to smooth it out and add more whipped cream to make the sandwich perfectly filled.
Now, carefully and with a very sharp knife (preferably serrated, i.e., a good bread knife), cut the sandwich into two triangles in the direction where you placed the whole strawberries so that they are divided in half.
And that’s it, repeat as desired. Note that the knife will get dirty when cutting, so you have to clean the knife between each cut. Enjoy and see you next time! ;D

Notes: The custard cream needs to be made at least a day ahead to properly set and thicken in the refrigerator.

Choose strawberries that are firm and not overly ripe to prevent the sandwich from becoming soggy.

The whipped cream must form stiff peaks, a loose cream won’t support the sandwich structure.

Japanese sandwiches are intentionally thick in the center where you cut and thinner at the edges for the classic triangular reveal.

Use a sharp, serrated knife and clean it between cuts for the cleanest presentation.

You can add aromatics to the custard while heating the milk, cinnamon stick, lemon zest, orange zest, or vanilla extract. However, in Japan, the custard cream only has that sweet egg flavor, so I went with the simplest recipe, the idea being that the custard/cream give it the sweetness and richness and the fruit gives the fresh main flavour.

If you don’t have patience to make the thick custard, you can use instant pudding with a little extra cornstarch.

While some people say to use Shokupan (a specific type of enriched Japanese bread), regular white sandwich bread works perfectly fine and since Shokupan is sweet, it might actually be too much sweetness combined with the cream and fruit, if you want extra sweet, go with french brioche, that is also used in some Japanese bakeries for fruit sando.

These are best eaten fresh, but can be wrapped tightly and refrigerated for a few hours if needed, but this is a make it and eat it in the same day kind of sweet! ;D

This recipe for Japanese Sweet Strawberry Cream Sandwich • Ichigo Sando was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Sandes Japonesa de Creme e Morangos foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.